Nika Hazelton's Flemish Asparagus

This recipe is adapted from Nika Hazelton's I Cook as I Please, a series of essays with recipes published in 1974 and the winner of 1975's Cookbook of the Year Award from the James Beard Foundation. Nika Hazleton was a cookbook author, the cookbook reviewer for the NY Times, and a food columnist for William F. Buckley, Jr.'s National Review.  She was a pal of James Beard's and it was James Beard who recommended her for the National Review food column.

I find myself slightly amazed that the National Review ever had a food columnist (I'm unable to determine via google if they still do) and even more amazed that I'm actually reading the National Review even if it is just a food column, but Nika Hazleton's food writing both in her columns and in her book is charmingly and quirkily, and sometimes even a little grumpily, opinionated, and an enjoyable read. Many of her opinions -- her insistence on seasonal fruits and vegetables, for instance -- seem ahead of their time.

In the headnotes for this recipe Nika Hazelton writes that when asparagus is in season she would invite people for a meal that consisted only of asparagus, followed by a substantial dessert like a cake. In fact, she is well known for a birthday party dinner she hosted for William F. Buckley where asparagus was served as the main course. I love the idea for the asparagus-only dinner and I think strawberry shortcake would be the perfect dessert. I look forward to doing it this spring when our local asparagus is in.

Our weather lately has been cold and wet and this is a hearty and filling meal for a cold and wet spring day. The lemon-butter-egg sauce is rich although not overwhelmingly so and in combination with the asparagus and potato makes a complete meal although if you were looking for something a little lighter you could serve it without the potatoes.

Nika Hazelton's Flemish Asparagus

for each serving:

1/2 to 3/4 pound of asparagus
1 medium sized thin-skinned potato
1 hard boiled egg, peeled
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon of lemon
1 tablespoon of minced parsley
salt
pepper

1. Boil the potato in salted water until a fork pierces it easily.

2. Meanwhile, trim  the asparagus and if the stalks are thick, peel them. Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water until they are tender. I'm a freak about not having mushy asparagus and I pull them out while they still have a little crispness.

3. Sieve the eggs. I wasn't very successful in sieving my eggs and resorted to chopping them very finely in the food processor. Pulse until the eggs are chopped finely but stop while they are still fluffy and before they become egg paste. Melt the butter, add the sieved eggs, parsley, and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve by mashing open a potato, salt it, lay the asparagus on top, spoon the sauce over the asparagus leaving the asparagus tips unsauced.

Comments

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

Just goes to prove that interesting recipes can be found in unlikely places!

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

Just goes to prove that interesting recipes can be found in unlikely places!

[rachel]

This looks great, as always!

[Claudia (cook eat FRET)]

love this to death
seasonably perfect
simple yet highly flavorful
with an obligatory egg thrown in to make me very happy.

am i wrong in thinking just one anchovy?

[littlebouffe]

This looks like just the sort of dish I've been wanting, simple but substantial and not something I would have ever thought of on my own (we're also cutting way down on meat; hence the Deborah Madison post).

I'll be sure to get some asparagus this weekend and give this a shot. It has a lot of potential for heavy rotation.

[lobstersquad]

lovely!
we´re up to our knees in local asparagus right now, and I´m casting about for new recipes. even though I can never get tired of steaming them and dipping them in vinaigrette.

[Adele]

Oooh. I am definitely trying this one when the asparagus are in. :)

[Marc @ NoRecipes]

The sauce sounds very interested... Same ingredients as mayo but put together differently. I bet this would be good on a lot of things.

[Patricia Scarpin]

Julie, I love the idea of asparagus as a main course, too - I'm crazy about them!
And to finish it off with cake is more than perfect.

[Dara]

Can I come to dinner Jules I will be good unless you tryto add cheese! :-)

[Susan from Food Blogga]

This is such a lovely dish, Julie. It's elegant without being pretentious. I'd love to accompany it with a bowl of your creamy tomato and fennel soup.

[RecipeGirl]

Sounds terrific to me... I could eat this and call it dinner (with a really nice glass of chilled Viognier.)

[Lore]

I don't like them when they are mushy either :) There's something in the egg-asparagus combo that I really enjoy, I just can't put my finger on it.

[Meg]

What a lovely concept!

This looks delicious and substantial!

[KC]

I've forgotten about Nika Hazelton. Thanks for reminding me! I think I have a couple of her books and always enjoyed her writing. Is there an essay about about her Italian father and the gentle men's gatherings for conversation?

[Kaykat]

Delicious! There's asparagus everywhere, this sounds like the perfect side for dinner tomorrow!

[Kitt]

Yum! I love a nice lemony egg sauce. I wonder why the dish is called Flemish?

[katie]

There is a place in Germany and (I think) one in France that does asparagus only menus during the season... The one in Germany specializing in white only...
I've always wanted to go... someday...
This, on the other hand, I can (and will) make myself!

[aria]

oh that looks fantastic, so homey and yummy i want it right in my tummy!

[ann]

ha, that is so Buckley. I can't believe I just wrote that sentence. That is so wrong. And yet it's so right. Thanks so much for drawing this to my attention. Food... In the National Review... Who knew? I'm fascinated! Thanks Julie :-)

[Julie]

Lydia, so true! Who'd have thought!

Rachel, thanks!

Claudia, you’re like an anchovy ambassador! But I agree, minced fine it recedes into the background and adds depth of flavor.

littlebouffe, this makes a satisfying meal and when asparagus is in season and reasonably priced it’s also an economical meal.

lobstersquad, you’re ahead of our season – local asparagus has only just come in. Nice to be up to your knees in it though!

adele, I hope you like it!

Marc, you’re right about that. And yes, an egg –lemon-butter sauce has potential for many uses.

Patricia, that is kind of perfect for the season, isn’t it?

Dara, you can definitely come to dinner and I promise to hold the cheese!

Susan, that would make a very satisfying meal!

RecipeGirl, we ate it and called it dinner!

Lore, the egg asparagus combo is pretty traditional – actually the egg asparagus lemon combo is pretty traditional – think mayo and hollandaise.

Meg, thanks! It makes a good meal especially for some of the chillier spring weather we have.

KC, yes she does write about that. Also about the fact that her father’s newspaper was ironed before he read it and his shoelaces were ironed every day. Obviously a different era.

Kaykat, I hope you like it if you get a chance to try it.

Kitt, apparently the butter and hard-boiled egg sauce is a traditional way to serve asparagus in Belgium although it’s more traditional to use white rather than green asparagus.

Katie, I’ve heard about those places. That would be a fun trip.

aria, homey is a good description. A nice homey meal.

ann, the food column was called Great Delectations which seems TOTALLY Buckley. And the food column would sometimes run contests. There was one in which entries were asked to describe heaven on earth and the honorable mention entry was: “Heaven on this earth would be realized if Ronald Reagan entered into a dynastic marriage with Margaret Thatcher and together they ruled the world.” Now how Buckley (and how scary!) is that?

[Lindy]

I have a book called "American Home Cooking" by Nika Hazelton, which I have used a great deal over the years, to the point where it is stained and seriously banged up. I never really knew who she was, though, until now.

It always amused me that one of my favorite cookbooks of ordinary American food was the work of someone who came to this country as an adult, as she explained in her preface.

I felt she has a real knack not just for writing a good recipe, but for picking which traditional dishes were worthy. She had an almost anthropological approach, which was really quite funny.

I think that this must be how people in other countries feel about expatriate Americans who write reverently, but knowingly about their cuisine. Slightly exasperated, but also sort of proud..

But good lord- the National Review.I had no idea. Yikes. And oy vay. Still, a different sort of right wing in those days, eh? Imagine Dubya eating an all asparagus meal.